Free Republic

Volodomyr Zelensky got the bad news in Vilnius — notwithstanding lip service from some of the NATO members — the United States and Germany are refusing to let Ukraine join the club out of fear of broadening the war with Russia. Make no mistake — NATO is at war with Russia, but the West is cognizant of its military weakness and is not willing as an organization to risk taking steps that would provoke direct fighting between Russian and NATO forces. A frustrated President Volodymyr Zelensky launched a furious broadside against Ukraine’s NATO allies Tuesday as they began a summit...

A discussion on Russian state television saw arguments praising the achievements of the Soviet Union and the value of dying in the war in Ukraine, with panelists trying to put Vladimir Putin's invasion into a historical context. During a segment on the Russia 1 show Evening with Vladimir Solovyov, history professor Elena Ponomareva told anchor Solovyov it was significant the war had started in the centenary of the 1922 creation of the USSR, which she described as "a fair peoples' nation." Although the Soviet Union collapsed three decades ago, she took solace in the fact that "it does exist and...

Russia has already stationed a first batch of tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, Vladimir Putin says. Speaking at an economic forum, he said they would only be used if Russia's territory or state was threatened. The US government says there is no indication the Kremlin plans to use nuclear weapons to attack Ukraine. "We don't see any indications that Russia is preparing to use a nuclear weapon," US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said after Mr Putin's comments. Belarus is a key Russian ally and served as a launchpad for Mr Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February last year....

Russia appears to have moved to take direct control of Wagner, after months of infighting between defence officials and the private military group. Deputy Defence Minister Nikolai Pankov said on Saturday "volunteer formations" will be asked to sign contracts directly with the ministry of defence. The vaguely worded statement is widely believed to target the group. But in a furious statement on Sunday, Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin said his forces would boycott the contracts. The private military group has played a major role in the war in Ukraine, fighting on the side of Russian forces. But Prigozhin, who is said...

Russian military performance has been "mixed" in the last 48 hours of fighting, as there are an increasing number of reports of Russian casualties as they "withdraw through their own minefields," according to UK intel. In an intelligence update on Saturday, the UK's Ministry of Defence outlined the progress that had been made on both sides of the conflict in Ukraine. "In some areas, Ukrainian forces have likely made good progress and penetrated the first line of Russian defenses. In others, Ukrainian progress has been slower," Britain's MoD said in a statement. "Russian performance has been mixed: some units are...

In a rare admission, Russian President Vladimir Putin acknowledged Friday that Russia is sustaining “significant losses” in the war on Ukraine. “In recent days, we have seen significant losses in Ukraine, they exceed the classical figure,” he said, according to the Kremlin. The Russian president also confessed that Russian forces were dealing with artillery problems, adding in his remarks that “Yes, we still do not have enough of these modern weapons, but the defense industry, the country's military-industrial complex is developing rapidly.” The dispirited comments about Moscow’s prospects in the war come just as Ukraine has launched a series of...

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko has claimed that nations who are willing “to join the Union State of Russia and Belarus” will be given nuclear weapons, days after confirming the transfer of some tactical nuclear weapons from Moscow to Minsk had begun. Lukashenko, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, made the comments in an on-camera interview released Sunday on the state-run Russia 1 channel. During the interview, Lukashenko said, “no one minds Kazakhstan and other countries having the same close relations that we have with the Russian Federation.” “It’s very simple,” he added. “Join the Union State of Belarus...

Chief of Russia’s notorious Wagner mercenary force and self-proclaimed "butcher" for Russian President Vladimir Putin, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has once again come out swinging at Moscow's defense ministry, this time warning there will be a revolution like the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution if Russian elites do not get serious about the war in Ukraine. According to a Reuters report Wednesday, Prigozhin in an interview posted to Telegram said that there are already "tens of thousands" of angry Russians who are sick of seeing loved ones come back in zinc coffins while the children of Moscow’s elite "shook their a---s." "This divide can...

At least two people have been killed and 23 injured in a missile strike on a medical clinic in the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro, the regional governor says. Of the 23 injured, 21 are in hospital and three are in a serious condition. Two boys aged three and six were also among the wounded, governor Serhiy Lysak said. Russian strikes on Ukraine have intensified in recent weeks ahead of an expected Ukrainian counteroffensive. Mr Zelensky posted a video of the damaged clinic that showed firefighters at the scene and smoke billowing from the building. "Russian terrorists once again confirm...

Country 404 (the former 'ukraine') is a state sponsor of terrorism

New documents that suggest Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin offered to give Russian troop positions to Kyiv puts further strain on his relations with Moscow. The Kremlin on Monday attempted to downplay an explosive new report suggesting Wagner Group mercenary leader Yevegeny Prigozhin told a Ukrainian intelligence service that he would give them the positions of Russian troops in exchange for withdrawing from the besieged city of Bakhmut. “It looks like another duck,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, employing a Russian idiom for a hoax or a media stunt, lamenting that a “respected news organization” would buy into it....

Moscow acknowledged on Friday that its forces had fallen back north of Ukraine's battlefield city of Bakhmut after a new Ukrainian offensive, in a retreat that the head of Russia's Wagner private army called a rout. The setback for Russia, which follows similar reports of Ukrainian advances south of the city, suggests a coordinated push by Kyiv to encircle Russian forces in Bakhmut, Moscow's main objective for months during the war's bloodiest fighting. "In three days of counter-offensive activity, the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Bakhmut sector have liberated 17.3 sq. km (6.6 sq. miles) of territory," Serhiy Cherevatyi, spokesman...

The boss of Russian mercenary group Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, accused a Russian brigade of abandoning its position in front-line Bakhmut, allowing Ukraine to seize territory. The remarks are the latest in a series of public criticisms from him of Moscow’s Ministry of Defense for the faltering invasion of Ukraine – and, in particular, the failure to capture the city of Bakhmut. But while Prigozhin has frequently poured scorn on the Russian military and its leadership, he has not previously accused Russian units of running from battle and allowing Ukrainian forces to recapture territory. Prigozhin said the 72nd brigade “just ran...

With even nationalist pro-war bloggers criticising Putin’s actions in Ukraine, his desperation and paranoia are growing. May is traditionally a month for public celebration in Russia, with massive public processions on 1 May for Labour Day and military parades on 9 May for Victory Day, a holiday commemorating the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany. Not so in 2023. Russia’s biggest trade union cancelled its traditional Labour Day demonstrations because of the “heightened risk of terrorist activity”, while regions near the Ukrainian border called off Victory Day parades so as to “not provoke” the Ukrainian army. The Russian government has warned...

Two Russian former convicts who claim they served as commanders for the Wagner mercenary group have apparently confessed to murdering hundreds of civilians, including children, in Ukraine. Both of the men gave interviews to an exiled human rights activist who runs the website Gulagu.net, which reports on corruption and torture in Russia. The former convicts -- Azamat Uldarov and Alexey Savichev -- were pardoned by Russian presidential decrees last year, according to Gulagu.net. In an hour-long confession, the men describe their actions in Ukraine since Russia invaded in February 2022, including executing 60 wounded prisoners, some of whom were Russian...

The U.S. has overtaken Russia as the top crude oil supplier to Europe, data shows, capping a remarkable 12-month period in which Moscow’s plan to weaponize its position as an energy superpower collapsed from strong Western opposition to the war in Ukraine...One sign of Russia’s diminished status as an energy superpower is futures trading. Russia’s premier Urals crude oil hit a two-year low of $48.40 a barrel last week while the global benchmark Brent crude was trading for more than $75.

President Alexander Lukashenko said on Friday that Russia, which has already decided to station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, could if necessary put intercontinental nuclear missiles there too. In an annual address to lawmakers and government officials, Lukashenko said Moscow's plans to station nuclear arms on the territory of its close ally would help protect Belarus, which he said was under threat from the West. (snip) "I am not trying to intimidate or blackmail anyone. I want to safeguard the Belarusian state and ensure peace for the Belarusian people," Lukashenko said. Although Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday that...

President Vladimir Putin will provide Chinese President Xi Jinping with detailed "clarifications" on Russia's point of view on the Ukraine conflict during Xi's state visit to Russia that begins on Monday, the Kremlin said. During a call with reporters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the two leaders would discuss themes in a peace plan for Ukraine proposed by Beijing last month. "One way or another, the topics that figured in this plan will inevitably be touched upon during the exchange of views on Ukraine" between Putin and Xi, Peskov said.

The talks will focus on their 'deepening' relationship and 'strategic co-operation' The two leaders will also sign 'important bilateral documents', China sa No other details were given but China has declared a 'no-limits' friendship with Russia and refused to condemn Moscow's invasion of Ukraine - while declaring the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries be respected. The Kremlin on Friday also announced the visit, saying it will take place 'at the invitation of Vladimir Putin'...... The visit, Putin said, could 'demonstrate to the whole world the strength of the Russian-Chinese ties' and 'become the main political event of the...

China's President Xi Jinping will travel to Moscow next week to hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, officials say. The Kremlin said they would discuss a "comprehensive partnership and strategic co-operation". The visit comes as Beijing, an ally of Russia, has offered proposals to end the war in Ukraine, to which the West has given a lukewarm reception. Western countries have warned Beijing against supplying Moscow with weapons. This will be President Xi's first visit to Russia since Russian troops invaded Ukraine. He is due to have lunch with Mr Putin on Monday followed by talks on Tuesday. A...